Elizabeth Carter
Elizabeth Carter (16 December 1717 - 19 February 1806) was an English poet, miscellaneous writer, and translator. Life Carter was born at Deal, daughter of a clergyman. Originally backward, she applied herself to study with such perseverance that she became perhaps the most learned Englishwoman of her time, mastering Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, besides several modern European languages. She was also well read in science. She translated Epictetus 1758, and wrote a small volume of poems. She was the friend of Dr. Johnson and many other eminent men. She was of agreeable and unassuming manners.John William Cousin, "Carter, Elizabeth," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910, 75. Web, Dec. 23, 2017. Youth Carter was born at Deal, Kent, the eldest daughter of Rev. Nicholas Carter, D.D., perpetual curate of Deal Chapel, and one of the 6 preachers at Canterbury Cathedral, by his first wife, Margaret, the only daughter and heiress of Richard Swayne of Bere Regis, Dorsetshire. Her mother lost her fortune, which had been invested in the South Sea stocks, and died when Elizabeth was about 10 years old.Barker, 194. Her education was undertaken by her father, who was a good Latin, Greek, and Hebrew scholar. She was so slow at first in learning the dead languages that, weary of teaching her, he frequently entreated her to give up the attempt. By constant application, however, she overcame her natural incapacity for learning. She read both late at night and early in the morning, taking snuff, chewing green tea, and using other means to keep herself awake. By this vigorous course of study she injured her health, and as a consequence suffered from frequent and severe headaches for the rest of her life. Beginning with Latin and Greek, she afterwards learnt Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, and German; later in life she taught herself Portuguese and Arabic. She took a great interest in astronomy, ancient and modern history, and ancient geography, played both the spinnet and German flute, and worked with her needle to the last days of her life. That she was a good housewife we have the authority of Dr. Johnson. It is related in Boswell (v. 229) that the Doctor, on hearing a lady commended for her learning, said, "A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner on his table than when his wife talks Greek." "My old friend, Mrs. Carter," he added, "could make a pudding as well as translate Epictetus from the Greek, and work a handkerchief as well as compose a poem."Barker, 195. First writing Before she was 17 she commenced writing verses, and the riddle which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for November 1734 (p. 623) is probably her first published piece. She continued to contribute to the Gentleman's Magazine for some years, her contributions generally appearing under the name of "Eliza." In 1738 Poems upon Particular Occasions (London, 4to), a small pamphlet of 24 pages containing a collection of 8 of her poems, was published by Cave, the originator of the Gentleman's Magazine, and a friend of her father's. This pamphlet, which is now rare, bears the name neither of author nor publisher, but contains a cut of St. John's Gate on the title-page. It was through Cave that Mrs. Carter was introduced to Dr. Johnson, who, being of opinion that "she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand" (Boswell, i. 93), wrote a Greek epigram to Eliza, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for April 1738 (p. 210). The friendship thus commenced lasted nearly 50 years, until Johnson's death in 1784. She contributed 2 articles to Johnson's magazine The Rambler, No. 44 being on "Religion and Superstition," and No. 100 on "Modish Pleasures." In 1739 she published her anonymous translation of Examen de l'essay de Monsieur Pope sur l'homme, by Jean Pierre de Crousaz. This translation, which had for its title An Examination of Mr. Pope's Essay on Man, translated from the French of M. Crousaz (A. Dodd, London, 12mo), was erroneously attributed to Dr. Johnson (Boswell, i. 107). In the same year appeared her anonymous translation of Francesco Algarotti's Newtonianismo per le dame, under the title of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explain'd for the use of the Ladies: In Six Dialogues on Light and Colour. From the Italian of Sig. Algarotti (2 vols. London, Cave, 12mo). Both these translations have become very scarce; and though Mrs. Carter never willingly referred to them in after life, they were undoubtedly useful to her in making her known to her contemporaries. Epictetus In 1741 she became acquainted with Miss Catherine Talbot, granddaughter of Dr. William Talbot, bishop of Durham, which led to an introduction to Dr. Secker, then bishop of Oxford and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, with whom Miss Talbot resided. It was at the request of these friends that Mrs. Carter undertook the translation of Epictetus. This was commenced in the summer of 1749, but was not finished until December 1752. The translation was not originally intended for publication, and was sent in sheets as it was written to Miss Talbot. At the suggestion of the bishop, Mrs. Carter added an introduction and notes to the manuscript, and in April 1758, at the request of her friends, it was published by guinea subscription. The subscription was so successful that 1018 copies were struck off at once, and 250 more were printed afterwards, the result of the publication being a gain to Mrs. Carter of nearly £1,000. The title of the 1st edition was All the Works of Epictetus which are now extant, &c. (London 4to). The 4th edition, which was published after her death, contains the last alterations of the translator taken from her manuscript notes, and has a slightly altered title. In 1762 she published her Poems on Several Occasions (London, 8vo), which she dedicated to William Pulteney, earl of Bath, and prefaced with some highly panegyrical verses by Lord Lyttelton. In this collection only 2 of the poems which appeared in the former volume – "In Diem Natalem" and the "Ode of Anacreon" – are to be found. A 2nd edition was published in 1766, and a 3rd in 1776, the latter edition containing 7 additional poems. A 4th edition was published in Dublin in 1777, and in London in 1789. During the summer months of 1763 Mrs. Carter, accompanied by Edward and Elizabeth Montagu and Lord Bath, visited France, Germany, and Holland, an interesting account of the trip being given in her letters to Miss Talbot. In the following year she lost her friend Lord Bath, in 1768 her old patron Archbishop Secker, and in 1770 her correspondent Miss Talbot. On 23 Ocober 1774 her father died. Mrs. Carter had passed the greater part of her life with him, and for the last 12 years of his life had lived with him in a house at Deal, which she had purchased. Last years Her acquaintance with Elizabeth Montagu hsd commenced at a very early period of their lives, and on the death of her husband in 1775 Mrs. Montagu settled an annuity of £100 upon her friend. Among Mrs. Carter's other friends and correspondents were Burke, Reynolds, Richardson (who introduced her "Ode to Wisdom" into his Clarissa), Savage, Horace Walpole, Bishops Butler and Porteus, Dr. Beattie, Hannah More, and most of the other literary characters of the time. She was never married. In October 1782, at the request of Sir William Pulteney, who, out of regard for Lord Bath's old friend, had settled an annuity of £150 a year upon her, she accompanied Miss Pulteney to Paris. This was her last visit to the continent, she being then 65 years of age, and no longer very active. For several years afterwards, however, she travelled through various parts of England with her friend Miss Sharpe. In 1791 Mrs. Carter was introduced to Queen Charlotte at Lord Cremorne's house at Chelsea. In 1796 a certain Count de Bedée, a stranger to Mrs. Carter, published Twelve Poems translated into French; Six in Prose and Six in Verse, selected from the works of Miss Eliza Carter, intitled Poems on several Occasions (London, 8vo). About 9 years before her death she was attacked by an illness from which she never entirely recovered. In the summer of 1805, though her mental faculties remained unimpaired, her bodily weakness increased very much. In accordance with her annual custom, she went up to London for the winter, and on 19 Februery 1806 died in her lodgings in Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the 88th year of her age. She was buried in the burial-ground belonging to Grosvenor Chapel; and a monument was erected to her memory in Deal Chapel. Writing In 1807 her nephew and executor, Montagu Pennington, published her memoirs, in which were included some miscellaneous essays in prose, together with her Notes on the Bible, and Answers to Objections concerning the Christian Religion. In the 2nd volume of Pennington's Memoirs the 2 collections of poems are printed, together with 8 other pieces which had not been published before. A Series of Letters between Mrs. Elizabeth Carter and Miss Catharine Talbot from the year 1741 to 1770, to which are added Letters from Mrs. Elizabeth Carter to Mrs. Vesey between the years 1763 and 1787 (London, 8vo, 4 vols.), appeared in 1809, and Letters from Mrs. Elizabeth Carter to Mrs. Montagu, between the years 1755 and 1800, chiefly upon Literary and Moral Subjects (London, 8vo, 3 vols.) in 1817. Mrs. Carter was more celebrated for the solidity of her learning than for any brilliant intellectual qualities; and it is as a Greek scholar and the translator of Epictetus that she is now best remembered. She used to relate with pleasure that Dr. Johnson had said, speaking of some celebrated scholar, that "he understood Greek better than any one he had ever known, except Elizabeth Carter." Her poems have ceased to be read and are not of very high order, the "Dialogue between the Body and the Mind" being perhaps the most successful. Her letters display considerable vigour of thought, and now and then a transient flash of humour. Though by no means a woman of the world, she possessed a large amount of good sense, and, though more learned than her fellows, was a thoroughly sociable and amiable woman. Recognition Her poetry was anthologized in Poems by Eminent Ladies, 1755. Several portraits were taken of her by different artists; an engraving from a cameo by Joachim Smith will be found in the first volume of the Memoirs (i. 501 note), and the National Portrait Gallery has a pleasing crayon drawing by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Elizabeth Gaskell, the 19th-century novelist, refers to Carter as an epistolatory model, bracketing her in Cranford with Hester Chapone, a self-taught Bluestocking.Cranford, CHAPTER V--OLD LETTERS Virginia Woolf saw her as a feminist precursor – urging "homage to the robust shade of Eliza Carter – the valiant old woman who tied a bell to her bedstead in order that she might wake early and learn Greek."Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, London: 1929, p. 98. References * . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 16, 2017. Notes External links ;Poems *Epitaph on an Infant" in A Book of Women's Verse *Elizabeth Carter at Poetry Nook (40 poems) *"The Pursuit of Happiness Often Ill-Directed" ;About *Elizabeth Carter in the Encyclopædia Britannica *Carter, Elizabeth in the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|1911 Encyclopædia Britannica]] *"Elizabeth Carter", Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring, 1986), pp. 138–140 * *Portraits of Elizabeth Carter at the National Portrait Gallery * Carter, Elizabeth Category:1717 births Category:1806 deaths Category:People from Deal, Kent Category:English classical scholars Category:Linguists from England Category:English women poets Category:18th-century women writers Category:18th-century poets Category:English Christians Category:English poets Category:English linguists Category:English women writers Category:Women poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poet Category:English translators Category:Translators to English